Tales from the Basement
by StarbuckJayne
Summary: The Mulder/Scully phenomenon lives on within the FBI fifty years later


Tales from the Basement  
  
By Starbuck_Jayne  
Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk  
www.geocities.com/Starbuck_Jayne  
  
Rating: PG   
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of, well,   
the whole Mulder disappearing thing but   
nothing major.   
  
Keywords: MSR, 3rd person POV  
  
Disclaimer: I am just playing with the   
characters in this story, most of whom   
belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and   
Fox.  
  
Archive: Anywhere at all just please keep   
my name and e-mail attached, but no flames   
please I'm way too delicate!  
  
Summary: The Mulder/Scully phenomenon lives   
on within the FBI fifty years later.  
  
Feedback: Please please please! Don't make   
me beg!  
  
Author's Notes: This is just something a   
little different. Interpret it how you   
will!   
  
Tales from the Basement  
  
Starbuck_Jayne  
  
  
"You know, I really don't get these things!"   
She picked a splinter of sunflower seed   
shell from between her teeth.  
  
"That's because you're eating them like a   
priss," was the reply as he took a seed from   
the bag and held it up. "Observe," he   
grinned before inserting the seed between   
his back teeth and biting down. In one   
swift move the shell cracked, and he sucked   
out the contents, depositing the shell in   
the waste paper basket. "Ta da!"  
  
"Very impressive," she smiled and ran her   
hands across tired eyes.  
  
"Now you try it," he offered her a seed.  
  
"Oh come on, I'm too tired!" She whined   
playfully.  
  
"To eat a sunflower seed? Tired of being   
shown up by me, more like it!"  
  
She met his gaze with a submissive smile and   
took the object from him resolutely.   
  
"Ok..." she began, positioning the seed in   
the same place she'd seen demonstrated, but   
as she bit down the shell was smashed into a   
hundred pieces, leaving her coughing and   
complaining.   
  
"Oh come on!" He took another seed and re-  
did the display, all to no avail. "Fine,   
you know what?" he said, shifting his   
position so that they were facing each other   
across the desk, "I'll bite and you suck,   
ok?"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Oh what, you never played 'Suck and Blow'?   
  
"If that's how you think you play 'Suck and   
Blow', then seemingly neither have you!"   
She remained unsure at first, but finally   
leant forward obediently.  
  
"Right, here we go," he spoke through   
clenched teeth, the sunflower seed already   
clamped in his mouth. "One...two..." on   
"three" Agent Kendal spat the seed out of   
the side of his mouth and instead began   
kissing the woman in front of him. There   
was no doubt that the pair would have got   
decidedly further if it hadn't been for a   
short cough from the office doorway. Kendal   
spun around, tie out of place and lipstick   
smeared across his cheek, to see a janitor   
leaning against the doorframe, a voyeuristic   
grin on his face. The elderly man stood up   
straight, and the smile faded from his lips   
as he began to speak passionately.  
  
"Jesus Christ! What is it with this office?   
Geez! You take two agents and lock them   
away down in this basement, cut off from the   
rest of society, and suddenly it's as if   
they're forced to start breeding! It's like   
"Survivor" for the Playboy Channel! I mean,   
it's what happens with rabbits, isn't it?   
You lock them up in a cage together and bam!   
There they are going at it like there's no   
tomorrow! I don't know why the FBI keeps   
putting people down here!"  
  
"Excuse me?" The bemused agent was altering   
his tie, and making his way around the desk   
to help himself feel more empowered in the   
situation.   
  
"Oh come on! How long have you two been   
partners? What? One year, max? At least   
most of them pace themselves!"  
  
"Erm, we're not partners..." the woman spoke   
up, "I'm his secretary..."  
  
The janitor turned to the male agent, "What?   
You got a secretary down here, now? Fox   
Mulder'd be spinning in his grave!" He   
leaned against his broom, clearly not about   
to leave the pair at it and start minding   
his own business.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Don't tell me you've never heard of Fox   
Mulder?" The blank stares that greeted him   
were a good indication that they hadn't.   
"Tall guy? Worked on the X-Files? Sister   
abducted by aliens? Oh come on! Spooky   
Mulder?"  
  
"Wasn't he the guy that ran away with his   
partner?" the woman put forward tentatively.  
  
"There you go!" He pointed at her   
triumphantly. "He worked down here too.   
Now at first, he was alone. And that worked   
out fine for the FBI, just shut him down   
here so he could spend all day with his   
precious X-Files. It was a case of the   
bureau feeling that they had to keep him on,   
rather than believing he was actually a   
contribution to the "Team"." The air quotes   
showed quite clearly the janitor's own   
feelings towards this idea. "But then, they   
sent him a partner. Check up on him, you   
know? Anyways, she's this smart, single,   
beautiful woman around about his own age.   
What do *you* think happened? Ok, so it   
took them like seven years, but still..."  
  
He was broken off by an interruption from   
Agent Kendal. "Why...why are you telling us   
this?"  
  
"Let's just say you might learn something,"   
was the response. "Ok, so these two finally   
get together and then he disappears. Twice.   
Now, believe me I liked Mulder. He was a   
decent guy. Trust me, you don't get much   
company when you're just over nineteen years   
old and working the graveyard shift. But   
Mulder, he was here most nights and always   
had time for a quick "hello" and bitch about   
the bureau. Anyway, few nights before he   
left, the second time, he was down here 'til   
four in the morning, turned the office   
upside down looking for it."  
  
"For what?" Kendal wasn't interested. He   
was agitated.  
  
"That's just it. He wouldn't tell me.   
Something to do with Agent Scully, that was   
his partner, but I don't know what. You ask   
me, he'd dug something up on her that he   
didn't want people finding out. Anyway,   
after he returned they didn't have time for   
anything 'cept running away. Whatever it   
was, it's never been found. They say he's   
still looking for it too."  
  
"I thought you said he was dead."  
  
"I did." He stared ominously at the couple.   
"I've worked here fifty years. Whatever it   
was he was looking for, I've never found it.   
And, off the subject, every male and female   
agent that they put down here end up doing   
it. It never works out, of course, but then   
he wouldn't let it, would he? Name's Rob by   
the way, no doubt I'll see you around   
sometime." He touched his baseball cap, and   
as he left they heard his mop and bucket   
trundling away down the corridor.   
  
"Riiight," Kendal collected some random   
sheets of paper together and tapped them   
into a neat pile.   
  
"You think this office is haunted?"  
  
"No, Louisa, I don't."  
  
"You know, John, for someone who's in charge   
of The X-Files you're surprisingly narrow   
minded."  
  
"Yeah? Maybe that's why I'm so good at my   
job."  
  
"Well, shouldn't we at least be curious   
about whatever it is that he hid down here."  
  
"Louisa, if this thing hasn't been found in,   
what? Fifty odd years? What makes you   
think we'll manage to uncover it?"  
  
"Well, maybe no one else knew to look for   
it," she said.  
"Well, I'm already ten minutes late for my   
meeting," Kendal pulled on his jacket, and   
took a swig from a mug of cold coffee on his   
desk, "but if you want to waste your time   
then knock yourself out." With that, he was   
gone.   
  
Louisa groaned. Despite Kendal's opinions   
of her, she was a smart woman. She'd   
graduated from Princeton with a degree in   
literature, but had since made some very   
unwise career choices. Her grandmother had   
been an agent, and Rob's story had triggered   
a vague memory of a tale she'd told her many   
years ago. Therefore, she decided to   
unearth Mulder's secret, but it would take   
some research along the way.   
  
XXXXXXX  
  
The rest home always made Louisa smile. The   
big vases of flowers that stood on little   
tables that served no other purpose; the   
doilies; the lace, the tablecloths. It was   
as if, no matter what year it was, rest   
homes assumed that the elderly appreciated   
such things. The truth was that ninety-nine   
percent of them had indeed been conditioned   
into believing this. Not Louisa's   
grandmother, though. The place drove her   
crazy, and there had been many an occasion   
where she'd threaten one of the slightly   
less mentally sound residents.   
  
"Hey Granny," Louisa placed a kiss on her   
cheek, and went on to make limited small   
talk with her elderly relative. Asking her   
how she was, how she was liking, if she'd   
been speaking to any of the others.  
  
"Honey, today that guy over there," she   
gestured to a frail looking man who gazed   
listlessly out of the window, "came up and   
asked me, not once, but four times if I'd   
enjoyed being in concert with Britney   
Spears. I may be eighty-seven, but I swear   
if I still had my gun..." she smiled up at   
her granddaughter, obviously just kidding.   
Louisa smiled.  
  
"Gran, you remember when I was a little   
girl, you told me that story, about a guy   
called Fox?"  
  
"Ahh, Fox Mulder. Now there's a name I   
haven't heard in a while," she smiled. "It   
wasn't him that I knew that well, though. I   
was better friends with his partner, Dana   
Scully. We'd worked together on the X-Files   
whilst he was missing.   
  
"Do you remember what happened to them?"  
  
"I'm old, Louisa, not stupid. I know that   
they fled the country, but that's about it.   
They had a son, William, who they put up for   
adoption when he was just a baby. There was   
something strange about that child, but   
Scully refused to see it," she shook her   
head, not really considering things from a   
sceptic's point of view.   
  
"Was there anything odd about this woman,   
Dana? It's just, we spoke to the janitor,   
Rob, and he said Mulder hid something in   
that office."  
  
"That's very likely, Mulder always was a   
very secretive guy. One of the best agents   
I've ever met, mind you, but couldn't trust   
anyone. I don't know, though. I only   
worked there a couple of years or so, I   
wasn't very well informed with regards to   
any of his secrets."   
  
"One more thing...you had a partner, right?"   
A smile crept across Louisa's face.  
  
"John Doggett," her grandmother nodded.  
  
"Were you two ever, more than just good   
friends?"  
  
The only response she got was the reserved   
smile of a wistful old lady.  
  
XXXXXXX  
  
The only person Louisa found in the   
basement office was Rob. He was sitting,   
with surprising audacity, in Agent Kendal's   
chair.  
  
"Just resting my legs," he explained with a   
grin, "don't want me collapsing down here,   
do you?"   
  
Louisa said that she did not, but remained   
taken aback by the janitor's attitude   
towards authority. Still, she supposed that   
she was but a humble secretary herself.   
  
"I was thinking we could check the desk   
drawers," he said, not moving from his   
position.  
  
"Won't this desk have been changed like a   
hundred times since then?" Louisa said,   
rationally enough.  
  
"Hell no! Do you know how much effort it   
would take to get another desk down here?   
Do you think the FBI really cares that much   
about this "department"?" Rob laughed   
mirthlessly, casting a longing glance   
towards Agent Kendal's coffee.  
  
"Well, ok, but I don't really know what   
you're hoping to find," Louisa rolled up her   
sleeves and bent down to open the first   
drawer.  
  
"You can't just look inside the drawer,"   
offered her companion, "you're gonna have to   
take the whole thing out."  
  
"Well, why don't you do it?"  
  
"Can't," Rob raised his hands,   
"fingerprints."  
  
Louisa thought this a very peculiar excuse,   
but said nothing, putting the janitor's   
laziness down to, well, laziness. She went   
through each of the drawers in turn,   
unearthing paper clips, drawing pins,   
leaking pens, computer disks, sheet after   
sheet of fax paper containing nothing but   
junk messages...she even managed to find,   
wedged right at the back of the drawer, the   
nameplate from a time when the desk had   
belonged to Fox Mulder.   
  
"Do you think this is what he was looking   
for?" Her comment was met only by a dour   
stare.   
  
"Try the filing cabinets," Rob gestured in   
their general direction with a nod of his   
head.  
  
"Hey!" Louisa was unimpressed by his tone   
and lack of assistance. Rob merely held up   
his hands in defence. She began leafing   
through the files with a sigh, before   
uttering a short cry. "There's a file on   
Dana Scully in here!" She said, turning   
around to face the janitor.   
  
"There are several, actually, I forget how   
many now. Is there anything inside?"  
  
Louisa tipped the folder's none-paper based   
contents onto the desk. Amongst the objects   
was a small gold band, adorned with a single   
diamond.  
  
"That's it!" Rob exclaimed, "That's what   
he's been searching for!"  
  
"How do you know?" Louisa turned the object   
over in her hand, totally unconvinced of its   
value.   
  
"Don't you see what it is?" Rob had moved   
closer to gain a better view, a large grin   
spreading across his face. "It's an   
engagement ring."  
  
XXXXXXX  
  
By the time Agent Kendal had returned to his   
office, Louisa was almost ready to leave.   
She decided not to mention her little   
treasure hunt, nor the fact that she had   
found what may well be a priceless antique   
and simply placed it back in the file where   
she had found it, on the orders of a mere   
janitor. She just nodded to the agent, and   
he returned the gesture, putting his files   
on the desk and removing his jacket.  
  
"You off then, Lou?" He said, still more   
pre-occupied with his work than focussed on   
the conversation. She nodded, and pulled on   
her coat.  
  
"Oh! Just one thing!" John spun around to   
face her. "You didn't see that guy, erm,   
Rob, again did you?"  
  
"Why?" Seemed the safest response.  
  
"It's just, well, Stone says that there   
isn't a janitor working here named Rob...in   
fact he doesn't think he can ever remember   
there being one whilst he's been here. And   
we all know what a long time that is," he   
chuckled to himself. "Anyway, thinks he   
must have been some guy who wandered away   
from his tour group or something. Good to   
know that the security here's so tight, eh,   
Lou?"  
  
Kendal didn't see the look on his   
secretary's face as she mumbled her goodbyes   
and stepped out into the corridor. So, if   
Rob didn't work here...then how did he know   
so much about Mulder and Scully?   
  
  
The End  
  
Feedback please!! What are your thoughts   
and theories? ;-)   
  
www.geocities.com/Starbuck_Jayne 


End file.
